Bon Appétit
by Akino Ame
Summary: On a humanitarian mission, Yamato and Mimi enjoy the ease of conversation that comes with good friends and good food. Written for the Digimon Friendship LJ Challenge.


Bon Appétit

There will come a day when the Chosen Children's deeds are immortalized in the history of both worlds. The enemies they've fought, the Digimon and humans they have saved—all will be remembered and recited to children for generations to come. However, this is not one of those deeds that will make history. It is one of the small things in the universe that is always overlooked, but significant all the same.

While Oikawa's sacrifice had done much to restore the Digital World, it couldn't fix absolutely everything. There were some areas that were worse off than others, as the one cliff-side village was. Their crops had been damaged in the storms that arose when the Holy Stones were destroyed, so Palmon came in to help, and Mimi came along. Yamato and Gabumon were free, so they agreed to help, and Gabumon quickly got to work helping harvest whatever had survived while Palmon ensured the next season's crops would be in far better shape. As for Yamato and Mimi, they were working at what was for all intents and purposes a soup kitchen. Other areas had donated food, and the village had taken some supplies to fix a stew for everybody working. The vegetables that were more likely to spoil were put in, and the broth was thickened to gravy with some ground assorted grains. Gabumon and Yamato had brought fish to give it some protein, and now it was all simmering on top of the fire pits.

"You know, I thought cooking would be a lot harder than this, but I really had fun," Mimi admitted while she sliced some bread. "Thanks for the pointers, Yamato."

"No problem," he answered. "I've always found it to be relaxing, myself. Maybe it's because I do it so often after school."

"Oh?" Mimi asked, looking at him in surprise. "Your dad still works at the TV station, right? Does he get home too late to cook?"

"Yeah, he still works at the station and he gets home at a decent time, but he's usually too worn out to cook is the problem. Plus he's not exactly a world-class chef. I bought him a cookbook for his birthday last year, and I was the one who wound up using it most of the time. I actually learned a pretty good curry recipe I tested on Takeru."

Mimi was torn between giggling and reproaching him. She settled for a nice middle ground: scolding him with a smile. "Experimenting on your younger brother? I thought you two wanted to be _closer_, not trying to kill each other."

"He said he was hungry, and the recipe was easy," Yamato defended. "I wasn't going to poison him."

Mimi gestured at him and was glad to see that he looked rather afraid of her aggression. "Well, I hope you didn't try to turn the stew into another of your experiments. The last thing we need is for it to be too hot for anyone to eat."

"I promise, I didn't add anything into it!" Yamato insisted in some degree of panic, raising his hands in defense. "It's perfectly safe!"

"It better be," she replied, getting closer, and he backed up considerably.

"Mimi, _please_," he said. "Just put down that knife!"

She paused, blinked, and then looked down at her hands. Sure enough, she'd mistakenly pointed at him with the sharp knife she'd been slicing bread with. In embarrassment, she cried, "Sorry, Yamato!" and practically threw it back on the cutting board. "I didn't know I was still holding it!"

"It's okay," he assured, trying to catch his breath after the scare. "Just be careful next time. You need to pay attention."

"I do!" she insisted. "It's just that sometimes things slip my mind." When he laughed, she asked, "What?"

"Promise you won't pull a knife on me again?"

Sighing, she answered, "I promise." It didn't look like she'd be living that one down for a while.

"It's just really like you, Mimi. You were always that way when we were active Chosen Children. I think it's part of your innocence. I'm glad you never lost it."

She grinned. "Would you want me to change?"

He laughed again. "I don't think any of us could handle you if you changed. We need to know what we're in for, after all." She gaped at him as he kept laughing. Finally, she gave him a mock-scowl.

"Some Child of Friendship you are," she teased.

One pot of stew was finished, so the kitchen staff ladled it out among themselves so they'd at least have something to eat along with the other workers in the village. Yamato and Mimi took their lunch to an empty table and sat down, tasting the fruits of their labor before any more words were spoken.

"But seriously, Mimi," Yamato said, "it's been great talking to you again. Jou and Koushiro are usually so busy with their own stuff that I don't get to see them that often, so it's usually just Taichi, Sora, and me."

There was too smug a smirk on Mimi's face as she said, "You mean Sora and you, right?"

He frowned. "You've been talking to her, haven't you?"

"Naturally," she answered with a grin. "And Miyako and Hikari too. We Chosen girls have to stick together, you know."

He groaned and shook his head. The girls forming a coalition under Mimi? Now, that was a scary thought. "The point I was trying to make was that it's nice seeing you. Honestly, it's easy to just be myself around you, forget that I'm supposed to be a singer to half the city and a mentor to Daisuke and his team. No need to wear my stage face, I guess. Normally, I'd say that about being with Taichi or Sora, but you just make me relax more."

She smiled. "I just have that effect on people. I'm the Child of Purity for a reason, after all."

"Good point," he agreed. He took another spoonful of his stew and added, "And remind me to give you a few more cooking lessons next time you're around."

"Why?" she asked. "Is there something wrong? I thought I did a good job."

"No, you did great," he answered. "I think you really have a knack for it. You might want to try some new recipes, that's all."

"As long as you're not making me try experimental curry," she insisted.

"Only if you don't wave any more knives at me," he promised.

With a smile, she said, "It's a deal, then."

They only had a little while left until they had to serve the other workers, so they spent the rest of it in comfortable silence, enjoying the virtues of good food and good friends.

**_Digimon _is the property of Toei Entertainment. This is the first of Round One of the Digimon Friendship Fanfiction Challenge on Livejournal.**


End file.
